Carbon emissions double in B'lore

Carbon emissions double in B'lore
DH News Service, Bangalore:

The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board has compiled an inventory of green house gases arising from the transport sector in Bangalore city.

A programme was organised for the release of report on ‘Estimation of Green House Gas from Transport Sector’ at KSPCB office in Bangalore on Thursday.

According to the report, a present figure of 2.24 million tonnes of carbon di-oxide, 325 tonnes of methane and 19 tonnes of nitrous oxide show that emissions have doubled in the last ten years, according to the report prepared for the Board by Enzen Global, energy and enviornment consulting firm.

A projection of the same shows that if the same trend favouring personalised transport continues, the emissions will double to over 4 million tonnes in the next decade. Not only will this contribute to global warming but also has health implications. The study also showed that the transport sector accounted for 51,000 tonnes of carbon monoxide and 2500 tonnes of particulate matter that hold severe implications for respiratory and neural well-being. Two-wheelers are a major contributor in this area. In the last two decades, vehicles in the city have grown by 300 per cent, and is growing at a 10 per cent annual rate. At present there are more than 24 lakh vehicles in Bangalore and 70 percent of this are 2-wheelers.

“The Board will in a few months extend the study to other major cities in the state. We will also soon look at the other two major sectors of power and wastewater. This report is more of a discussion draft which will help us to come up with better data”, said KSPCB Chairman H C Sharatchandra. There is a need to put an efficient public transport system in place rather than expect people not to use private vehicles, he said.